Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A review of tonight's "Lost" - and a rant about the ABC gimmick that tried really damn hard to ruin it - coming up just as soon as my brain takes a little stroll...

"Some people just aren't meant to be together." -Keamy

Okay, we have lots of things to discuss about "The Package." First, though, allow me a paragraph or three to be pissed off. Really, really, really pissed off that ABC saw fit to clutter the bottom corner of the screen with a "V" logo and a ticking count-down clock to point people towards tonight's return of that show.

On-screen clutter has been one of the scourges of television over the past decade, as networks think nothing of putting annoying flashing billboards all over their shows, sometimes for other shows, sometimes to remind you of the name of the show you're already watching. I remember writing a column way back in 2001 bitching about how NBC interrupted an episode of, I think, "West Wing" in order to use a bug to promote a new show called "First Years." I wrote that I was so irritated that I hoped "First Years" would fail just to prove the gimmick wrong. "First Years" did fail, quickly, but clutter has only gotten worse. I manage to avoid a lot of it because I watch so many shows on screeners (had I been forced to watch "Men of a Certain Age" on TNT, rather than on DVDs, I likely would have felt much more harshly about that show, knowing how much TNT loves its clutter). I, like the TV executives who approve crap like this, don't always watch TV the way regular people do (which is no doubt why said executives don't think it's a bit deal to approve it), so I manage to avoid the worst of the worst. (Matt Groening once said that he imagines a good chunk of people who buy "Simpsons" DVDs are doing it so they can see the episodes without all the clutter Fox inserts into the broadcasts.)

But because I watch "Lost" live like the rest of you, there was no way to avoid it, and it was ridiculous: between the large red "V" logo, and the ticking clock, it was impossible to not notice it, virtually ever moment it was on screen (which was everywhere except right before or after a commercial break), and in at least one case the stupid clock obscured the note Sun was writing to Jack. Well-done, ABC. Really freaking well-done.

Again, I accept that I've lost the clutter fight, but there are some shows and moments that should be above this junk. As Mike Schneider wrote, "this is "Lost." The final season of "Lost." It's sacred ground. You don't clutter the screen during one of the show's final, pivotal episodes. Or you piss people off."

Count me in among the pissed, and the only thing keeping me from going full-on ballistic is the fact that "The Package" was middle-of-the-pack "Lost" - an episode that's necessary because it moves a lot of story points along but isn't that thrilling in and of itself. Had they pulled a stunt like this during "Ab Aeterno," a shoe might well have gone through my flatscreen.

After last week's extended Richard flashback, the sideways universe returns, and once again we find out that things are different but in many ways better for two of the characters who have declined to take Smokey's side. Alt-Jin and Alt-Sun aren't married, but she's still carrying his child, and their relationship is much warmer without the stress that Jin carried as Mr. Paik's son-in-law. Of course, Keamy does try to kill Jin on Paik's orders, and Sun winds up getting shot during the battle with Bakhunin(*), but until that point, they're happier than they were in the real 2004, which certainly goes along with my epilogue-in-advance theory, where the people who go against Smokey get a happier ending than those who follow him. (Though at the moment, the only sideways we've gotten that qualifies as the latter is Sayid's.)

(*) And Bakhunin, of course, gets shot in the right eye, because some things have to remain the same from timeline to timeline. By the way, think we'll ever get any Patchy backstory from the real timeline - i.e., was he really a Dharma guy who flipped to Ben's side, or something more complciated? - or is that one of those questions Darlton don't want to/have time to answer?

Still, good as Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim are together - and this is the first episode where they've shared extended screentime together since the end of season four - this wasn't one of the more compelling sideways stories. Maybe, like the others, it plays better in a few months after the secret of this universe has been unlocked, but here it was a charming love scene and then a lot of Keamy hamminess. (I really liked Keamy's return in the Sayid-ways, but seeing him in so much of this episode made me realize the less-is-more nature of Kevin Durand's performance, you know?)

As for the island material, we at least got that great moment where Widmore shows Jin the pictures of Ji Yeon(**), and we got a bunch of questions answered: Widmore says he's working to stop Smokey (when there was some ambiguity in his reaction to Sawyer's belief that this was his goal in "Recon") and has a plan that involves the island's electromagnetic anomalies (as mapped by Jin and the rest of LaFleur's crew back in the '70s), Desmond is revealed (as many of you guessed) as the "package" inside the locked room on the sub, and Smokey needs Jacob's remaining candidates to get off the island(**). And we got a reminder of what a good duo Jack and Sun were back in the day. (Seriously, that final scene was the most likable the real version of Jack has been in many, many seasons.)

(**) Daniel Dae Kim absolutely killed that scene, and between that scene and Jack's promise to Sun at episode's end, I think I may be just as invested in seeing the Kwon family get their happy ending as I am on guard that Desmond, Penny and baby Charlie sail off into the sunset.

(***) And because the list on the cave wall differs from the list in the lighthouse - specifically, in that Kate's name is not crossed out in the lighthouse - Smokey appears to be making a big mistake in giving Claire permission to kill Kate once she helps them reassemble the remaining candidates.

It wasn't all thrilling, but there was at least a sense of the story moving forward, my man Desmond is back in play, Sayid's soul is gone (but he looks really cool coming out of the water at night), and Richard finally has a plan for Team Jacob, even if Jack seems determined to not let it happen. There are a lot of agendas at play now, a lot of weird moving pieces, and if "The Package" didn't get my blood racing (though the stupid "V" clock got it boiling in spots), it at least has me interested to see how what happened tonight plays into the bigger picture.

Some other thoughts:

• I wonder if there's going to be a larger plot point to Sun's temporary loss of her English, or if it's there to create a parallel to season one, where when the Kwons finally reunite, Jin will speak English and she won't.

• It occurs to me that Jack and Sawyer now seem to be occupying the same moral space on their respective sides; seeming to play along but really only concerned with getting their friends the hell off Craphole Island; imagine what they could accomplish were those two crazy kids to join forces!

• So part of the "cork" properties of the island seems to prevent Smokey from using his powers to get off it, but doesn't keep him from hopping on an outrigger to row over to Alcatraz. Hmmm... Seems an odd loophole. (And, once again, someone with a gun takes an outrigger but does not shoot at Sawyer's season five group. Sigh...)

• Nice to see the return of the weird indoctrination/rave room that Karl was locked in during Kate and Sawyer's escape from Alcatraz in season three. If that place was just another Dharma experiment, as Zoe claimed, why exactly would Ben stick Karl in there? Just as punishment for annoying him?

Finally, a programming note: I'm due to take a couple of weeks family time starting either next week or the week after (a couple of pieces are still being moved around), which means I may either skip over two of the next three episodes, come to them very late, and/or touch on them very briefly and then open up the conversation to you. Sorry for the inconvenience, but the timeframe only has so much wiggle room, and can't wait until after this season. I promise that as soon as I see each episode during the time I'm off, I'll get up some kind of quick post; I just might not see each one right away.

I thought Widmore's comment about them "ceasing to exist" if Smokey got off the Island (I guess Hydra doesn't count since it's within the same "bubble") was a strong hint the sideways timeline we're seeing is Smokey's.

I like the idea Steve brought up. Jacob has rule in the timeline we are seeing and if Smokey is allowed to leave he will take control and the Alt takes over. Overall the episode wasn't great, especially when compared to Ab Aeterno, but it was necessary and left me intrigued for what else is to come.

I found it kind of 'unfair' that given that Jin and Sun are already grouped together in 'their' one episode, and with all that exposition going on the island, I really would have preferred more time with Jin and Sun on the island (again, Jin always has the worst luck on the island) instead of giving me more Keamy - who can't possibly matter too much in the big scheme of things.

I liked Ben's "hey don't look at me. I really didn't do that to Sun!" But it's also kind of strange to see Ben seemingly care for someone who a week or two ago (before Ajira hit the island) wanted to kill him.

Didn't Yunjin Kim audition for Kate originally? I wonder what would have happened with Kate and Jack had she gotten the Kate role instead (and if I would have actually cared more about this couple because they'd have better chemistry)?

I guess with flashsideways scene where Jin and Sun check into the hotel where they made sure we hear their names 'Paik' and 'Kwon' established their non marital status there as well as tell us that Jin is probably the candidate and not Sun. (Which again begs the question, why are there no girl candidates?)

YAY Desmond. Not surprising at all, but man, it's about time he popped up.

By the way, think we'll ever get any Patchy backstory from the real timeline - i.e., was he really a Dharma guy who flipped to Ben's side, or something more complciated?

He was never with Dharma. He was brought to the Island by Jacob and joined Ricardo's group of Others at that time.

At some point in Season 3 he says he "was brought [there] by a magnificent man", and now that we know that at least a few of the Others knew about Jacob bringing them there (Dogen, for instance), we can put those pieces together ourselves.

Seems I might be in the minority but i loved the episode. My guess is the animosity for the V clock colored everyone's perspective. Sadly it seems I have resigned myself to such awful distractions and just decided to let it be.

If the stories in the Alt timeline are slowly moving all the main characters together in some way, or to some place, like say, a hospital, then the sideways stories may end up being quite satisfying in the end. Just guessing...

It seemed like Sun was surprised at her reflection in the mirror and did a double take. Or am I reading too much into that?

Also did anyone else notice that the airplane-like wooshing sounds between island and alt worlds is getting louder and more obvious each episode?

Overall it was a pretty good episode but in general this season is lacking the presence of original-Locke and of Juliet. There's a void in the show that won't be filled by them being in the sideways reality.

I agree with Alan about Jack being at his most likable in ages in the scene with Sun. I wish we'd seen that Jack more post season 3.

As to Sun's Enlish loss, put me in the camp that figures that was something significant and will be found to be part of something of larger significance.

Not much information is given to build solid theories for the conclusion.

Is there a connection between Sun banging her head and the alternative Sun? It seemed that occurred Alternative Sun looks at the mirror and seems to have a better grasp of English. Perhaps I'm drawing straws.

Steve, that is definitely one conclusion and it appears to be half valid. Their lives are clearly not the same but people are still bounded together.

Anyways, I enjoyed it and feel as if this puts the last episode in a better light as the start of the ending.

Yippee, I finally predicited something right on this show! I guessed Desmond, but as Alan said, so did a lot of people. Just seemed to obvious, especially based on the limited amount of time left.

Aside...so I caught an old episode the other day, one involving bunnies. It reminded me of that video with Marvin Candle and the rogue bunny, where he freaks out about the two similar bunnies interacting, simingly for fear of like a matter-anti matter collision.

I think is important to remembeer in terms of the alt-story line. My guess is there are parallel time lines and there are wormholes that allow one to get from to another. Most of the time this transaltes into something to deja vu (best noted when the alt-Losties catch themselves in the mirror. The looks on their faces to me as felt like they are remembering something, in the distant recesses of their brain).

Now, here is the real guess...Smokey is from the other time line, but he somehow figured out a way to break on through to the other side. The entry point was the island and Jacob has to keep him there because of the real Smokey gets off the island, his alt-worldness will destroy the current world. We still do not know how Smokey really is, but perhaps it truly is someone we already know, but the alt-version. Maybe Des, maybe Farraday, maybe Christian, who knows.

Anyway, I'm done rambling...kind of an eh show so I guess it felt like a good idea to focus elsewhere

I liked this one more than I expected, because I generally find myself pretty bored during Jin/Sun episodes. I found the sideways story a little confusing, because I couldn't quite figure out why Mr. Paik would send Sun to America with only a handsome young man for a companion, or why they didn't just immediately let him know about the money situation so he could wire more. Also, it was nice of Keamy to follow through on his side of the deal without any guarantee of payment. What an upstanding criminal.

Other than that, the Jack/Sun scene was really nice, and a good reminder that she was one of the useful castaways back when they were still figuring things out; she acted as the nurse and planted that garden.

Dude - ever seen "Idiocracy"? We have been prepared for this since spike started blowing up the Enterprise in the corner of our screen 5 years ago. It will be in cinemas before you know it. The future is here - and it's - mediocre.

• So part of the "cork" properties of the island seems to prevent Smokey from using his powers to get off it, but doesn't keep him from hopping on an outrigger to row over to Alcatraz. Hmmm... Seems an odd loophole.

I think it is been established since the end of Season 3 when all the islands disappeared that they are both connected. So whatever the main island is, Hydra island is as well.

I agree that this was a little too much Keamy, as much as I enjoy him. I would've preferred to just have Mikhail showing up at the hotel room in the first place. Would have seemed more economical and given Divoff more to do. He didn't get to be scary at all!

Overall very enjoyable though. One thing I take away from this episode is that Sayid and Claire seem to not quite be in the same boat, as I'd assumed they were. Sayid said he felt nothing, yet we can see that Claire still feels plenty of anger, paranoia, jealousy, fear... Not very nice emotions, but much better than nothing.

Sun bangs her head suddently doesn't speak English; she couldn't speak it either in Alt-timeline. Jin, slight reversal.

The head bang rocked their minds ever, however slightly, into the alt world and they took part of that world back with them. It is similar, though obviously to a lesser effect, of what happened with Juliet when she talked about "going dutch". Since we know she claimes "it worked", this gives more credence to the alt timeline wormholes...

For anyone else who missed Sun and Jin, it was gratifying to see them center stage in what felt like the smoothest example of the blending-through-the-years style of storytelling Lost has been employing so far this season.

Seems like they gobsmacked us with a whole hell of a lot of Answers (with a capital A-N-S-W-E-R), and they did it while telling exactly the sort of moving and powerful character story that made me fall in love with this show in the first place.

Whew. I'll save you all from more ramblings and just go post on my blog. If you want more of my nonsense, just click on my name.

Thanks for getting your recap up quickly, Alan. I've been dying to read other reactions since the show ended. Think this will end up one of my favorite episodes of the series. I am locked and loaded for the rest of the season now.

Man, you could just see Jack sliding into that Jacob role so smoothly tonight.

This is the Keamy quote...I have watched it a ton of times and I still can't quite figure it out. If you read his lips it looks like he says "the island" but I think that he may have said "to ya, I". I don't know if it was intentional but I definitely did a double take when I first heard it.

What, exactly was the point of the first part of the season taking place in the Temple, and what was the point of half of last season centering around the mysterious Ilana and Jacob's bodyguards? Their significance still isn't clear since Ilana seems to have no idea what to do except follow Richard

I wonder if Sayid’s emotional numbness is A) permanent B) a result of his “dark resurrection” C) a result of murdering Dogen and Lennon D) a little bit of b) & c) mixed together.

So what are we supposed to call Mikhail now that Patchy doesn’t apply in the flash-sideways universe? It was great to see him, but I would have loved for Charlotte to make another appearance since we know that she could speak Korean (at least in the Island universe).

If anyone is interested, you can find more of my thoughts on this episode on my blog where I go into detail about the implications of the flash-sideways with regards to Sun and Jin’s hopes for future happiness as well as what I think is behind the true nature of the Free Will vs. Fate debate so prevalent on this show. Click my username for the link.

The Best Scene was the Sun unbuttoning scene. Call me immature, but she's hot.

I wasn't a fan of the episode, but I understand its place. It's like how Alan felt about the Kate episode. I was never really invested in their story before anyways, so I wasn't really invested here. Although Kevin Durand really sold me on the fact that he's a really good actor.

Didn't Yunjin Kim audition for Kate originally? I wonder what would have happened with Kate and Jack had she gotten the Kate role instead (and if I would have actually cared more about this couple because they'd have better chemistry)?

Well, the downside of that scenario (or alternate reality) is that the Jin and Sun characters would've never existed, since they were created specifically because the producers liked Yunjin's audition so much. So I'll bet Daniel Kae Kim, at least, is pretty pleased how things turned out.

Am I the only one who was confused by the fact that Keamy was already shot dead by Sayid in the flash-sideways (or whatever) and now he just re-appeared, alongside him? Is this an indication that there are two different timelines or that they're all non-contiguous?

Also, I must admit I did not see the Desmond reveal coming. How did I see the Widmore reveal in the sub and not this? And yes, I know he was in the opening credits, but he was listed as "Alan Dale" and not "Guy who wakes up every morning wishing he was Terrence Stamp."

Shows you boring this episode was that so many people are talking about the clutter instead. After last week's great episode we went back to another borefest. So disappointing and I'm losing hope that this will end in a great fashion.

Seems like Smokey could have hopped on a boat anytime he liked given what he said to Sawyer. Or maybe he is lying to Sawyer......

As far as the V and the countdown clock goes, count me as extremely pissed off. It isn't like ABC hadn't already promoted to death the return of V. And the clock robbed the last scene of most of its tension and drama. The clock and logo were distractions the entire episode. Maybe that's why there wasn't as big an impact emotionally.

But the logo business angered me to such an extent that I removed V from my DVR and I plan on not watching it at all. I hope somebody from ABC reads this and understands how much this kind of junk really upsets viewers.

I thought that was a very good episode (V's aside). I'm always a bit of a sucker for the Jin/Sun storylines -- I think it may just be easier to write compelling backstory/sidestory material for two characters rather than one.

One thing no one's noted that I really liked is that this was the first episode since the premier that we saw all the characters, and not just because Desmond showed up. The last seven or eight weeks we've bounced from Locke's group to the Temple to the Ilana/Ben group to Richard to Jack and Hurley, etc, never seeing more than about two of these groups at once. Here they've all consolidated pretty nicely into two (well three with Widmore's group) camps which makes me think we're at the end of the season's prologue, and about to move forward into the action.

I thought a couple of the Sun moments were pretty meta in an interesting way. At the beginning she tells Jack something like "I don't care about why we're here or what our purpose is, I just want to find Jin!" which I read as speaking for the (ever shrinking) population of viewers who prefer character-driven episodes to mythology-driven ones. Then at the end, Jack tells her "It may take you longer to communicate, but at least you have your voice back" which was interesting because we've heard so little from Sun the last year... the show has almost entirely forgotten about her.

Lastly, one thing (well one thing in particular) from past seasons confuses me deeply: in Miles' flashback he is snatched by Bram and his crew just before he goes to work on Widmore's freighter. Bram tells him "you're on the wrong team." We know now that Bram was aligned with Jacob and Ilana, which implies that Widmore's team was not. But now Widmore seems to be opposed to Smokey, which one would think puts him on Jacob's side (as would Jacob's comment in Lighthouse that he needed to help someone get to the island... unless maybe that someone was Desmond?). Is there any way to reconcile these allegiances? Has Widmore flipped sides since sending the freighter? Was the freighter mission just anti-Ben but pro-Jacob? Help!

First of all, no matter what happened this week, coming after the Richard episode was sure to be a letdown.

Second, Jin and Sun episodes have always been some of my least favorite episodes throughout the series. From the moment we found out that Sun somehow managed to learn completely fluent English the whole thing has seemed implausible.

But honestly? The V thing in the corner pissed me off so much that it ruined the entire hour. I know that sounds silly, but it's true. When I saw it come up the first thing I did was roll my eyes, but then after realizing it was a countdown clock and that IT WAS NEVER GOING TO GO AWAY, it made everything just fester. By about 25min in I started fast forwarding through the show because I was so pissed off, and ended up missing part of the exposition by Widmore. Seriously, I was just ffwding thinking "This is bulls**t".

It was a weak episode to begin with imo; adding the countdown clock IN ADDITION TO THE ABC LOGO was just completely over the top and obnoxious. I mean, really, can't you sacrifice your network logo for an hour if it's that important, and could you maybe fade the V and clock to the point where it's not so distracting.

I'd say I hope someone gets fired for this, but I've worked in huge corporations so I realize it's more likely that someone will be promoted.

All I can say is that if they keep it up I'll stop watching Lost for the rest of the season and wait to watch the LAST...SIX...EPISODES...on Netflix.

I laughed my head off at the ad where the V's claim to care about Lost. As for the countdown, I wasn't even surprised about that.

On to the episode:

(a) Jacob is sexist. Also, he's ancient and women have never been good for anything in the past, donchaknow.

(b) I don't know what to make of Jin going to work for Mr. Paik without having known Sun before? Okay, I guess he could have signed on after meeting her, but still a little weird. Way to cliffhanger the sideways.

(c) WTF is Patchy doing there? Oh, the random.

(d) Keamy as a fun, friendly mobster seemed even weirder in this one.

(e) I really enjoyed alt-Sun having it out with alt-Jin about her sweater.

(d) Ditto Jack not acting like a dick and being helpful to Sun this episode.

Here's an idea... tell UnLocke that you want to have a chat with him in some dense part of the forest, hide some pylons in a ring around where you're meeting, then switch them on once he's inside the ring. Voila, trapped. Then you've just got to check the battery every now and then.

Not much to add to the convo but I find it interesting how many people didn't seem to enjoy this episode. Looks like y'all also really enjoyed last week's Richard-centric ep? I feel the exact opposite -- thought Richard's ep was a real letdown after all of the build up and frankly kind of boring and consequently enjoyed this episode SO much more b/c I actually felt we were moving forward in the action and getting some answers. Also they got me with the Ji Yeon pictures. They're going to milk this Jin/Sun separation til the finale aren't they :(...

I quite liked this episode (as mentioned the Canadian broadcast didn't throw the V garbage on screen to distract), but when there are 8 episodes left it's time to cut the crap with keeping Sun and Jin separate. Given how much they've been forced into the background at various points in the series, I think that pushing the reunion even closer to the end of the series is a bit of a cheat since they're filling huge amounts of space that prevents questions from being answered. Don't get me wrong, they're actually two of my favourite characters, I'd just rather they end this episode with a resolution of that plotline and free up that much more time.

I also seem to be the only person from what I've read who doesn't buy Sayid's soullessness. He seems more like an angsty 14 year old goth kid rather than the monster they want us to think he is. I half expected him to come out of the water with thick black eyeshadow on.

Also, Alan, whenever your time off ends up being, I really really hope you do full recaps for Lost when you get back (and then maybe do a Lost re-watch thing for veterans/newvbies on season 1 once you're done with season 3 of The Wire).

After the tremendous let-down that was last week's episode, this was a more acceptable pleasant mediocrity. They strained a lot -- really, Sun runs into a tree and forgets English? -- but managed to conjure not only Season One's goodwill towards the couple, but their isolation from the other castaways. Sun has mostly been a useless character for 2 1/2 seasons now; the show really only knows how to use her when her marriage is in play (even glancingly, like the flash-forward/backward switcheroo ep in which she gave birth). And I liked Kearny's line, because given all the complications and the tiresome separation anxiety maybe the universe doesn't want these two together. I'm okay with that.

The interplay between Locke's group and Widmore's group has so far failed to be interesting. The talk of geologists and electromagnetic centers and stuff is promising, but I'd trade that for more mano-a-mano tension. This season has been a few bursts of action and a LOT of people sitting around. At least when they were trying to get off the island/back to the island there was a false sense of motion.

Mostly excited to have this week's ep done with because I'm totally excited for next week. Big week in television. Brand New Moffat Doctor, the debut of Craig Ferguson's robot skeleton sidekick, and one Mr. Desmond Hume.

As if the V logo wasn't annoying enough, in Boston we had a weather alert running across the bottom of the screen almost the whole time - and obscuring the subtitles. I'll have to re-watch it online since between the two I missed a good portion of what was going on.

I'm tired of the whole Sun and Jin apart storyline, it almost feels like a joke at this point - 'will they ever meet up or just keep comically missing each other?' Sigh.

1) Remember when Desmond had his first out of body experience/flash back/sideways? He gets snapped out of it by getting hit in the head by that cricket bat in the pub. Next thing he awakens back on the island. When Sun hit her head on the tree and went out she wakes back up with a hybrid condition of being able to write/understand english but has the parallel-sun condition only being able to speak korean. One of the other commenters pointed out that this happens with Juliet.

2. When we first meet the tailies and they find their dharma station there's that glass eye in it. Did that belong to Patchy?

3. When Smokey Locke first arrives on the Hydra island he seems eager to march right up to the fence but then the burst of bullets stops him in his tracks. We've already seen Smokey stabbed and shot on the main island is there something different about him on the Hydra and, if so, could he have walked through the pylons if he wanted to?

hey, AlanCan you advise who we might email about the screen junk, particularly re: the rest of Lost? I need to yell at somebody, and who knows, it might actually make a difference.I read the creators are pissed too, so maybe ABC will knock it off if they catch enough flack.Thanks

Not to beat a dead horse, but I too noticed the stupid V bug right away and was annoyed that it wasn't going away. Way to go ABC. Back to Lost - I thought it was interesting that Smokey seems to have lied to Claire when she asked the questions about the names in the cave. He always seemed to be the one who was ready to tell people the truth, but he clearly lied to her about her name being on the wall (Littleton was visibly on the wall and crossed out). Not sure if it means anything, but it was interesting.

One other thought and I can't remember if it's been brought up but it seems like it's becoming a reoccuring scene to have a character (mainly Smokey but tonight Jack as well) offer their hand to someone else when talking.

I know Smokey offered his hand to Kate and she didn't accept it. I believe he did it to Sawyer when they were climbing down the ladders to the cave and Sawyer's ladder slipped. Tonight he did it to Sun and she refused. It seems like there are other instances that I can't recall. Anyone else remember? And then tonight Jack extended his hand to Sun and she acknowledged that she trusted him but not Smokey.

I agree this episode was frustrating but necessary. Tuesday night is the worst now I have to wait one more whole week for more Lost! Bah!

A thought about the show. If Alan's theory about the sideways universe is right (that it's the epilogue) then the return of Desmond could mean we get his signature line as the final one before the show ends and the epilogue world becomes reality... "See you in another life, brother."

I loved this episode, this season has been terrible about showing all of the characters on the same episode and this one did. It was really getting annoying going 3 or 4 episodes without seeing certain characters.

After Widmore took Jin to go see the package, I actually said, "There are times when I really hate this show." I think I haven't said that about an episode of Lost since the third season. I mean, the producers keep saying to watch the Sideways world closely because it's important, but judging by this episode, I just can't see what is so important about the Sideways world and I'm starting to get really impatient with the whole thing. The ads ABC is putting out keeps counting down the episodes until the series finale and I think it only serves to remind viewers like me that the writers seem to be wasting time until they can reveal (almost) everything in the finale. Well, at least it just seems to me like they're wasting time. The various camps on each island are just sitting there... waiting. Waiting for what? We don't particularly know. I think the episode crossed the line for me when it showed how Sideways Mikhail lost his eye. I've stomached a lot of violence and gore from this show, but that was just unnecessary. And I don't really need that V countdown in the bottom of the screen because it blocked off what Sun was writing on Jack's pad. I thought that was just annoying and when the episode ended, I just threw up my arms in frustration. Another week of this and I don't know what I'm liable to do with this show. I suppose that I've gone this far and I can stick it out till the finale, but the show is now trying my patience. Maybe they should've stuck with the format from "Ab Aeterno" and ridden the show of the Sideways Flash. Or this is just gonna fall on deaf ears as another in a series of long complaints from angry fans of the show.

Okay, now that I've sorta been talked off the ledge as it were (and reading your review Alan, because my rant was written without doing so), I had these two thoughts:

-- When Widmore showed Jin pictures of Ji Yeon, I was trying to figure out if Jin had seen her before. Of course, Widmore answered all of my hard thinking by saying that Jin hadn't seen her before. Takes so much mental energy to cycle through the entire history of the past two seasons and confirm some small piece of info.

-- I was thoroughly confused when Sun started speaking Korean to Ben. It made for something quite funny, but for a second, I thought there was something wrong with my television (Why it would ever go from English to Korean is something I didn't consider until Ben spoke English).

Wow! Now I'm really glad that I missed the live airing of the episode and downloaded it later instead. The downloaded CTV version was completely free of that horrendous V logo. Guess I know how I'll be watching Lost from now on.

My local station cut after the LOST logo to weather news (we're in a deluge). Was there a next week's promo? I don't consider them spoilers for myself--but I never talk about them as I know others do. I would really like to see it if there was one.

Hmmm. I preferred this episode to last week because it featured more characters and moved the story along. I loved last week, don't get me wrong, very satisfying to see as much Nestor Carbonell as possible, but I missed everyone else. This week we got both island camps AND the new people, AND Keamy. (and Sun looking in a mirror which I have to go back to see. Did Jin look in a mirror?)

At least I'm not the only one who is angry about this.Imagine if during the NBA Finals, ABC put a giant graphic of a turd over each basket. You would have to guess what shots went in.This is the exact same thing. We had to guess what was being said/written more than once. All because of some turd of a show that will be gone by Memorial Day.

Last evening's LOST left me restless and dissatisfied, and not only because of that awful blinking V countdown. And yes, in response to an earlier comment, I DID intentionally not watch that show in reply--I'd been considering it before, but the clutter made me think better.

As Alan said, this episode felt like pieces moving around for a future payoff, but I feel like I've already said this about half a dozen of this final season's episodes.

I was gently shocked by the way even the actors & writers seem to be admitting the ludicrousness of things at times, like when Sawyer, in response to the thought that Smokey can't row away, says, "Yeah, cause THAT would be ridiculous!"

Desmond's reappearance somehow managed to be a letdown. The whole side-flash part of the story was in order to get us to a moment WE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT. Was it really so shocking to find out that Sun's father hired Keamey to rough him up? That the bank account was emptied?

I still defend and like the side-flash moments, but the Sun/Jin side-flash felt like a bad "heist" movie. IN the same way that last week's Richard ep felt like a bad "pirate" movie.

LOVED seeing Mikhail again. Loved the moment on the beach with Smokey and Widmore. For a second on Hydra Island there, it looked like something was about to happen. Smokey says, the war's begun! And then-- hm. Back to the camp.

This whole season has felt like marking time for something that never quite happens. We're all trapped in the temple for 4 episodes until-- we leave! Then we're all hanging out on the beach for 4 episodes until-- well, we're still on the beach. Ilana (who cares about her, again?) says, We're going to just sit here until we decide to DO something! O the Drama!

Yeah, I'm watching every second of this show until May. For now, Season 6 continues to Underwhelm.

But after last night, I promise you I'm never watching V.

Alan, we will miss you in the next few weeks. After an episode like "The Package," I've enjoyed your commentary a LOT more than the actual show.

PS. And Sun ONLY speaking Korean after a "bump on the head?" IS ANNOYING. I know it's meant to be a clever shout-out to season one, but no. It's annoying. This same device was last used in either the Beverly HIllbillies, or the Flinstones, and in those dramas, the problem could only be cured by ANOTHER BUMP ON THE HEAD. We'll all look forward to that.

I enjoyed the episode quite a bit because I felt it did move the story along. It explained a little more of the motivation behind some of the characters, namely FLocke and Widmore. We got confirmation that FLocke cannot go over the water in the form of Smokey, and we found out that he needs all the candidates to go with him so he can get off the island. Regarding Widmore, we’ve known for a couple seasons that Widmore wants to take control of the island away from Ben, but now we also find out that he thinks that it’s important to ensure smokey doesn’t leave the island, which goes along with what Jacob said last week, and with what Eloise has said in the past (“God help us all”). So I think now we have confirmation that Widmore on Jacob’s side of the fence and not on Smokey’s side, but apparently there are different factions of Team Jacob (the Ben/Richard/Ilana/Eloise faction, and the Widmore faction).

Like Chrissy in her comment at 12:12, I found the reasoning behind Jin & Sun’s trip to the US confusing. What, there’s no mercenaries in Korea that could kill Jin? Or Mr. Paik couldn’t have brought Keamy & Co. to Korea to do the deed. Seems a bit contrived (as are many of the goings-on in the flash sideways stories this season). Despite that, I thought this flash-sideways storyline was one of the more enjoyable ones this season. I was surprised to see Sun get shot, and I am very interested in seeing the resolution to that. And I liked the parallels of Mikhail getting shot in the eye, and Keamy’s “I’m not dead yet” routine (maybe Mikhail will repeat his own “I’m not dead yet” routine as well?).

Speaking of contrived, while I agree with Alan that the Sun not speaking English angle may make a nice parallel with season 1, in that when their reunion occurs the tables will be turned from Season 1, I think that’s all there is to it – an interesting storytelling device. I doubt there’s any larger meaning to it as others have theorized. This device is similar to how people thought “Desmond Hume is my Constant” was some meaningful statement that would come to play later on in the series, when all it turned out to be was a sentimental capper on a great episode – the concept of Constants was never discussed again, despite the fact that discussion boards everywhere tried to match up each character with their Constant. But I digress.

I do agree with Alan and others who said there was a little too much Keamy in the episode. His monologue to Jin while taping him up was like the writers were hitting us over the head, spelling out every detail of that flash sideways story.

Oh, and the only thing more annoying than the “V” logo, is reading all the comments (this one included) about how annoying the “V” logo was. :)

I love any episode that features Jin and Sun. They're both low-key characters and perhaps that's why viewers tend to dismiss their rare times together. Both actors are brilliant to watch so I really enjoyed last night's episode.

My only paranoid fear is that they won't end up happily ever after. Here you have a couple (island reality) who have worked to get over the rockiness of their marriage and have ended up stronger and more in love than they were before. Hollywood usually doesn't reward that kind of achievement (and for all the wonderfulness Darlton have given Lost fans, I still consider them basically "Hollywood"). I fear the same for Desmond and Penny who overcame different struggles and ended up stronger than before. Rose and Bernard were very happy together but have been banished to the nether regions of the island/space-time continuum. Sawyer finally found grown-up fulfillment in a relationship with Juliet and we saw what happened there.

I really hope I'm wrong about Sun and Jin's future---and Penny and Desmond's, as well. The only relationships (and I use the term loosely) Darlton have been zealous about have been the irritating bouncing back and forth of Kate's immature longings for Jack and Sawyer, so I'm pessimistic regarding Sun and Jin. I really hope they have a wonderful future together but I don't trust Darlton in that area. (Look what they did to Sayid and Nadia...)

No more soapbox. Sorry about the rant.... On a different note, I also hated the clueless red V obscuring half the screen. But for those who have decided not to watch V to spite ABC, please give the show an opportunity to survive or crash on its own merits. It came back very strongly last night and was well worth the watch.

Thanks for the V-logo rant, Alan. Somebody had to say that! Unfortunately, I think it's just going to keep getting worse. If that place was just another Dharma experiment, as Zoe claimed, why exactly would Ben stick Karl in there? Just as punishment for annoying him?Room 23!!! I can totally see old Ben using that room for just that reason.I respectfully appreciate your epilogue theory, Alan, but I think this episode pushed me more towards Team Convergence. It seemed to me that Sun's inability to speak English was because she was partially merging with her 2004 reality. And with all the mirror shots in every episode this season, it seems that either a symbol or actually a way they are connecting with their 2007 selves. Also, I'm wondering if the "Kwon" canidate name is actually referring to both Sun and Jin when they are united, not an either/or thing at all.And someone on another board posted an interesting comment...that the MIB is actually the electromagnetic energy on the island, and THAT'S what should be stopped from getting off the island. The more I think about that idea, the more I like it.

So did anyone else get a good laugh out of Sawyer's "Yeah, because that would be ridiculous." response to Smoky about his inability to fly over to Hydra Island? I'm guessing the creators realize they have set up some fairly arbitrary rules concerning the supernatural aspects of the show and that the diehards have noticed.

Between Time Warner airing the show in fullscreen as opposed to the intended widescreen and then that "V" monstrosity, the episode was un-watch-able. If they did this to a lesser show, I would have stopped watching that episode immediatley and then the show entirely. THIS is the reason I got rid of all but network cable. Soon enough, I will be getting out the digital rabbit ears to go along with my waiting for Netflix DVDs of upper-channeled cable shows. Even the online version of Lost had two HUGE ABC logos on the lower left and right of the screen. Why? I ask. WHY?

I just want to put my 2 cents in as well - tath V countdown was ridiculous (in one of the early episodes the local station was showing school closings at the bottom of the screen and obscured some of the captions, they must've got lot of complaints because they never did it again.

So part of the "cork" properties of the island seems to prevent Smokey from using his powers to get off it, but doesn't keep him from hopping on an outrigger to row over to Alcatraz. Hmmm... Seems an odd loophole

I don't think anyone has said this yet. I don't think it's really a "loophole" I just don't think smokey can travel over water for whatever reason.

Whe Sayid showed up in the freezer to save Jin I got a definite Zombie-Sayid vibe from him I hadn't got in his sideways. I understand he had just offed a few people but I don't remember him looking as murderous in his episode.

Count me among those watching live who was so annoyed by the V countdown that I opted to turn off the TV when Lost ended.

I also found myself thinking that the first network that adds the countdown clock to the COMMERCIALS, so live viewers know how long the commercial break will be, could find a devoted audience who appreciates them using technology to produce something thoughtful and actually useful to their CUSTOMERS.

Fritz wrote:>>Am I the only one who was confused by the fact that Keamy was already shot dead by Sayid in the flash-sideways (or whatever) and now he just re-appeared, alongside him? Is this an indication that there are two different timelines or that they're all non-contiguous?>>

Likely, you were the only one confused. This episode showed us what happened leading up to the previous Sayid episode (i.e. what happened in the Sayid episode happened at the same time as this episode). Please note that at the end of the Sayid episode, he opened the freezer and found Jin. In this episode, he opened up the freezer, and found Jin...

While I understand everyone's comments and dislikes, I completely disagree.

Don't get me wrong, last week's episode was enjoyable, but what did we really get from it? NOTHING. It was entertaining, it answered a few uninteresting questions about things we had kind of figured out, but ultimately it didn't provide many answers.

This week we get an idea of what Widmore is attempting to do. We get the start of the two separate camps walking the same direction towards the plane for the inevitable showdown. And if these flash sideways really are some sort of prologue on who chooses what sides, isn't Sun getting shot, and Jin possibly watching her die mean they went with Smokey? Their life started better, but it certainly didn't seem like it was staying better.

Also, I'm sticking with Jacob-is-the-bad-guy twist. Even if I'm right, and that's the twist, it'll still be good. That's the only thing I can think of that will make people go back and watch all the gentle nudges from Jacob and see what his plan was all along.

2 Things: Until Widmore was showing Jin the camera, I had completely forgotten that Sun was working for him. Once I remembered that, I realized, if Widmore is a good guy, which remains to be seen, he would want to reunite Jin and Sun, because she does work for him, and hopefully he cares for her. But I'm still not sure I trust him.

Second, the scene where Jin saw his daughter for the first time brought some tears to my eyes. I think it's part me being a dad and thinking about not seeing my son for his first 3 years, and the fantastic acting job by Mr. Kim.

In addition to the V clock, we also had a weather ticker in Boston that covered the subtitles. I don't care if Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency due to flooding, I want to know what Jin and Sun are talking about!

I also found myself thinking that the first network that adds the countdown clock to the COMMERCIALS, so live viewers know how long the commercial break will be, could find a devoted audience who appreciates them using technology to produce something thoughtful and actually useful to their CUSTOMERS.

Well, their customers are actually the advertisers, not the viewers. The advertisers are the ones that are actually purchasing something from the network, you know. If the networks wanted to please the viewers, they could ditch commercials altogether, but they don't really care much about pleasing the viewers once they have them.

That's why I don't read too many comments. We're nearing the end and our ideas are bound to be much closer to the truth now than before. I was heartbroken to see Des drugged and separate from Penny. Is sayid there in a recon mission (the gun for self protection and getting in?) or is he there to kill him? That question is going to kill me until next week... And here I was hoping Des would never be introduced again and allowed to have a happy ending...

Here is my theory. The alternate reality / sideways is the reality that takes place because the anti-smoke party won the battle and kept smokey on the island. All of the the previous seasons are the reality that existed because Smokey won and did get off the island. Does that make sense to anyone?

Annoyed that I couldn't read Sun's notes, not just because of the V, but because, on my old standard 19" Sony TV manufactured in 1980, the shots were too wide for my screen. :(

Don't really care about Jin and Sun anymore, not that I was very invested in their story, anyway. It's just farcical. I think it's funny that the writers think they're really creating great drama with the "Where's JIN????" plotline. It's just ridiculous.

Still don't like the sideways. It still seems pointless. Either it's pointless, or the whole first five seasons or pointless.

Too many inconsistencies in the plot were introduced in this episode to even discuss.

I don't like Zoe or whatever her name is (it's always unclear to me when they say it on the show - it sounds like, "OOOOH" for some reason, and I didn't know what her name was until I saw it written in reviews). Her mouth is annoying and distracting, and I don't like her wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression.

I'm tired of new characters.

Claire also now seems pointless. Bad wig.

The mystery about Sayid is being dragged out too long.

I feel cheated that the Temple turned out to be unimportant and quickly passed by. Especially after all the build-up regarding Dogen.

I was not surprised to see Desmond, but, THANK GOD. Hopefully his character will bring some action and interest back to this strung-out, boring-ass so-called plot.

Our local affiliate has been waging logo war against Lost since 2004, so I guess I'm just desensitized to it. We have routinely had episodes reduced to 2/3 of the screen for storm warnings -- complete with a beeping alert over the soundtrack of the show -- in other parts of the state, station group logos appear over the bottom third of the screen once an episode, sometimes in subtitled scenes, and the first act of the season two premiere was pre-empted while the local station covered (admittedly bad) weather.

Also did anyone else notice that the airplane-like wooshing sounds between island and alt worlds is getting louder and more obvious each episode?

I was going to pay more attention to that this ep, but that damn "V" clock pissed me off so much that I forgot. Friggin' jerkwad promomonkeys!

Sorry "Tribalism", "Schmoker" beat you to the "click on my name to go to MY blog where I will actually share my thoughts" post this week. The cluttersome "V's" of the comments.

FWIW, I appreciate the links vs. them posting their blog-length comments on someone else's blog. Getting through the comments here takes long enough without people cluttering up the landscape with excessively long posts :-) Plus, those two seem to contribute more than "Look at MY blog!" vs. the video dude .

I don't think anyone has said this yet. I don't think it's really a "loophole" I just don't think smokey can travel over water for whatever reason.

In some mythologies, the devil cannot cross running water, FWIW.

The first half of this ep was a little slow, just like "Ab Aeterno," but kicked in halfway through. I'm also curious about Smokey's "allowing" Claire to kill Kate once they get off the island. Seems to indicate he's a bad guy if he's advocating murder...though, since I want Kate dead, too....

I believe last nights episode actually gave a little insight into 'Lockes' masterplan.

In Dr.Linus tells Ben he'll be on Hydra Island.Sends sawyer on a recon knowing he'll make a deal with Charlie Boy.( as Sawyer is a con man will do anything for his own agenda )

So 'Locke' shows up the next day taking Charles off guard & unprepared ( whilst deploying sayid to save jin/desmond both ? )then leaving making Widmore panic/a little nervous while all this time a confrontation with Ben and Charles is looming over the horizon while ol' smokey sits back ready for phase 2?

This was one of my favorite episodes of the season. I love the original losties and always enjoy seeing more of them. I was bored out of my mind last week but Lost bounced back for me with the focus on Jin and Sun. I teared up when Jin saw his daughter and loved Jack and Sun on the beach. I hope Jack can keep his promise because Jin and Sun are one of the couples and two characters I'm heavily invested in and want to see them get a decent ending.

Has anyone given thought to possible significance of Sideways Sun being shot - as it seemed to me - in the stomach, and Island Sun's having shot the Other woman (Colleen? she was Danny Pickett's wife) in the stomach......and that shooting victim ultimately dies. Foreshadowing / mirror justice for Sideways Sun? Too bad, if so.

Chris, I too was disappointed about the package not being Walt. I was actually thinking it was him and was surprised when they pulled a grown white man out of the hatch. I had completely forgotten about Desmond as a character on the show over the last few weeks. But then again Walt is always on my mind since, for me personally, "what's the deal with Walt" is the biggest unanswered question of the show.

Can someone please explain to me what alt-Jin and Sun were doing on alt-Oceanic flight from Sydney to LA? Seeing as Sun's cover story involved a shopping junket and the two weren't openly a couple, I can't find a rationale.

Also, while I like Alan's theory re: moral fruit in the alt scenes, I do feel like Sayid's blank soulless-ness is like a protracted headfake for when he finally redeems himself somewhere near the end. It feels like too much telescoping for there not to be some twist.

I thought Sun's bump on the head causing her to forget how to speak English was pretty stupid. My wife and I both laughed as Jack was explaining it with medical terms that Matthew Fox looked very unsure of himself even saying.

Other than that, good episode. I'm content with Lost. I see the series ending with the resolution of the Jacob/Smokey conflict and that's all I expect at this point. I think it's going to be very entertaining and as long as they wrap up that main conflict I'll be happy.

My theory - We will find out Smokey's name is Aaron (and he's the good guy). Jacob didn't allow babies to be born in an effort to prevent Aaron's birth. Failed. Aaron is born and thus Sun was able to conceive, as there is no longer a need to prevent births. Desmond will die. As long as there is a constant, two timelines can exist. He has already "ceased to exist" in the sideways timeline, foreboding his death in '07 line. Widmore isn't/wasn't a jerk, but simply tried to keep Desmond away from Penny in an effort to save her the grief of what he knows will come. Sun's inability to speak English is her first step backward. If she dies in side-time, she also will "cease to exist" in 07 time. The candidates - is "Shepherd" Jack or Claire? Is "Kwon" Jin or Ji Yeon? What's up with Say-evil? Can't quite reconcile that...

Toeknee, I agree with you. If the point of sending Jin to the U.S. was to kill him, that doesn't make sense. An international biz guy like Paik would know that you can't just stroll through customs with 25 Gs in your bag. But, that is only one of 100 plot holes in the season thus far.

I thought this ep was boring. Everyone is saying that it's tough to wrap up everything in only so many eps - too much to answer. I disagree. I think the writers had too MUCH time. I mean, there's a commercial practically every 4 minutes and lots of screen time is dedicated to landscape shots or pointless exchanges. That indicates to me that (like some others have said), this ep is just filler. They could probably wrap up the whole series in half the eps. I think I may just watch the rest of the eps on DVR so I can fast forward through all of the stupid scenery shots and commercials.

As for V, yeah, I purposely avoid that show just because the massive marketing has angered me, and not just the "Lost" interruption - seeing the same dumb preview during every single commerical break on every other ABC show. I did the same thing with "Parenthood" - NBC showed the same 2 commercials over and over for 4 months before the show and that not only made me not give it a chance, but made me hate it without even seeing it.

Strange to see all this talk about the V-bug. Had to miss the real-time broadcast last night because of Passover, so I caught up with it today via my cable's "on demand" service. Not a bug in sight. Maybe I should watch it this way every week.

Also, Alan Dale needs to star in "The Michael Nyman Story" right quick!

they're happier than they were in the real 2004, which certainly goes along with my epilogue-in-advance theory, where the people who go against Smokey get a happier ending than those who follow him. (Though at the moment, the only sideways we've gotten that qualifies as the latter is Sayid's.)

As a fan of your "epilogue in advance" theory, Alan, I'm surprised to see you say this. Both Kate and Sawyer fall into the "less happy ending for those who follow Smokey" category. The trick is that both of them, while in marginally better circumstances than they were in the original timeline, are still obsessed with the same things that have always worked against them to make their lives crappy. Kate's still a fugitive with daddy issues and Sawyer's still a manipulator obsessed with finding the con man who killed his parents. In both cases, it's their fundamental character flaw that screws with their lives (just as Sayid's essential nature as a killer screws with his). So far this has held true with every character that has voluntarily gone with Smokey. Stick to your guns man, I think you've got a good theory going here.

Anonymous said... Can someone please explain to me what alt-Jin and Sun were doing on alt-Oceanic flight from Sydney to LA? Seeing as Sun's cover story involved a shopping junket and the two weren't openly a couple, I can't find a rationale.

Sun told her father that she was wanted to shop in LA, and he sent Jin along to be her "bodyguard" knowing the two were romantically involved. The 25k to be delivered was for Keamy to kill Jin and then screw Sun over by taking her $ out of her account. The whole trip was punishment for Sun for going behind Daddy's back.

cterry said... Can someone please refresh me on the Sun/Jin marriage? How are they not married in the alt scenes? I thought they were already married before they got on the plane in Australia. What am I missing?

Its the alt timeline, meaning something that their entire lives have changed, not just the post island stuff (Jack having a kid, Sawyer being a cop, etc.

How are they going to wrap up this stuff with Aaron? Walt? These supposedly special or dangerous (potentially anyways) have seemingly been shunned off to the side with no hint of their future or even if Lost will answer those questions.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed having Keamy in this episode because our last names are homophones. However, mine is spelled completely differently and gets mispronounced approximately 19 times a day. Just hearing that character's name said correctly over and over again was like a soothing lullaby to me.

"Man, you could just see Jack sliding into that Jacob role so smoothly tonight."

I'm with you, Schmoker. Jack promises something to Sun that he can't really know he'll be able to deliver, extends his hand and asks for her trust, all so he can get her to come along with him to help Richard protect the Island. I really think that post-lighthouse Jack is accepting that his destiny may be to replace Jacob, and that he's ok with that. Even Jack's calm delivery of lines and that sympathetic look in his eyes reminds me of the way Jacob gets people to trust him.

1) Jacob and Smokey are not good vs. evil, but rather free will (Jacob) vs. Fate (Smokey). In Jacob world, you have free will to change your situation. If the flashes are Smokey world, people are simply fated to be happy, sad, tormented, dead, etc. Thus, the world as we know it would cease, but not in an armeggedon senario

2) I think Lapedis is very important and he is the reason they had to come back. Recall, he somehow switched off the first flight and the plane crashed. He was on the second flight and the plane landed safely, and it is what Smokey is planning to use to get off the island.

One more point -

3) If (2) is correct, is it possible that Smokey could be responsible bringing people to the island too since it is to his benefit that everyone came back?

Closing thought, I'll be bummed if Sun/Jin and Penny/Desmond don't wind up together. I also think that Sayid is very much a wild card and will be the determining factor at the end.

FWIW, I appreciate the links vs. them posting their blog-length comments on someone else's blog.

The classy thing to do---IMO, of course---would be to post their thoughts without the ad, while still allowing anyone who finds them compelling to click through their username. Using someone else's blog as a platform for free targeted advertising seems to me rather rude, and the fact that they only leave the one comment and don't stick around for discussion suggests that the advertising is all they really care about.

I thoroughly enjoyed this ep, mainly because we got to see most of our favorite characters for a bit, as well getting some love, some humor, some borderline-cheesy action - and an announcement of Sun's pregnancy shocker!!

Maybe others have commented on this at some point, but as a fan of Indian cinema, I love that LOST has a slightly Bollywood-gonzo element to it, careening from tender romance to ultraviolent fight scenes, supernatural appearances, mystical mumbo jumbo, good vs. evil, hot cage sex, daddy issues, mother drama, pregnancy scares, and wisecracking buddies hugging to an emotional score. This devotion to delivering pure, over-the-top entertainment is part of what makes LOST so much fun for so many people, and what is lacking in so many other serial dramas and sci-fi shows, and I'll miss it come May.

Watching, I could not help but wish I could run face-first into a sturdy oak, as perhaps it would turn off something in the "logic section of my brain" and I would immediately enjoy this show a lot more.

There were a couple of interesting moments here, that seemed very WINK WINK from the writers.

First Sawyer to Faux-Locke, after his (non)explanation of why he didn't simply black smoke himself to Aruba for a couple mai-tais: "Oh yeah, because THAT would be ridiculous."

Then Faux-LizLemon to Charles Widmore, when Widmore began whining about the tranquilization of the entire tribe and Jin's abduction coming 3 days too soon (for what?? oh stop with your ??s): "Maybe you should have hired a mercenary instead of a geo-physicist!" It is rare that Lost openly acknowledges the utter absurdity of nearly every scene, so this was a refreshing change-up.

If Sun's dad gave Jin the bag of money, why not just give dude a call?

If Jin was about to leave camp, wouldn't it have been easier to let him go half a mile, follow him, then abduct him, rather than tranquilize the entire compound?

Alan, you have contended that those who stick with Smokie have worse alt-lines and those who betray him enjoy better fates. I'm not sure I'm buying that after Sun told him to go blow smoke, and then wound up as a potential accessory to murder with a baby and a bullet in her stomach.

Last night I started to think that the sideways world is the characters' lives if they had never been touched by Jacob...b/c if Jin and Sun aren't married, they haven't been touched by Jacob (the touch happened at their wedding). Don't know how the sunken island plays into that, but I was intrigued.

Anon @ 1:19PM: "Desmond will die. As long as there is a constant, two timelines can exist. He has already "ceased to exist" in the sideways timeline, foreboding his death in '07 line."

Desmond was on the plane in episode 1 of season 6 (in the sideways timeline), so what on earth are you on about?

JTM: "I think I may just watch the rest of the eps on DVR so I can fast forward through all of the stupid scenery shots and commercials."

Every Tuesday, I pause ABC at the start of Lost and then begin watching it 20 minutes after the hour so I can fast forward through all the commercials. Just do that, it works well. Fast forwarding through the gorgeous Hawaiian scenery? To each his own, I s'pose.

Lepidoptera: "First Sawyer to Faux-Locke, after his (non)explanation of why he didn't simply black smoke himself to Aruba for a couple mai-tais: 'Oh yeah, because THAT would be ridiculous.'"

5 people have mentioned that nod to the viewers, but it actually would be ridiculous, since it was long ago established (pre-island moving) that you had to follow an exact bearing (323.1 degrees or somesuch) to get to and from the island, back with the freighter plotlines. Remember how crazy Desmond went when the helicopter hit a storm and couldn't follow that line perfectly (oh, and here he is back on the island, what a coincidence!)? Anyway, as someone DID mention, the small island = part and parcel with the big island, they both moved together, they're both in the same E-M bubble that is hard to find/enter/exit (if you don't have access to a secret frozen donkey wheel cave, that is), and the fact that Flocke doesn't want to turn into smoke to cross between them might just come down to his personal preference to not be the oh-so-"evil" smoke around his new human followers.

Lepidoptera: "If Jin was about to leave camp, wouldn't it have been easier to let him go half a mile, follow him, then abduct him, rather than tranquilize the entire compound?"

Widmore said exactly that to Zoe in that same scene you referenced. It was what she replied to with "well, you should have hired a professional criminal, then, not a scientist." (paraphrased)

Janice: "Last night I started to think that the sideways world is the characters' lives if they had never been touched by Jacob...b/c if Jin and Sun aren't married, they haven't been touched by Jacob (the touch happened at their wedding)."

The main speculation about the sideways flashes all season long on this blog's comments has been that they are the characters' lives w/o being touched by Jacob, yes. But if Jin and Sun aren't married, yet they still had a wedding, that means they're divorced in the sideways world, and there was no indication of that. The implication was that they were having a supposedly secret affair to hide him from her dad. Whereas in the "normal" world, Sun's dad knew about them and yadda yadda.

I agree with commenter (I think it was toeknee) who said the importance of Farraday's note about Desmond being his constant has been blown out of proportion. Probably as an early means to try to fit everything together in this giant puzzle, but still, I don't think Constants are the angels of Jacob or anything.

I do wonder if Eloise is actually working for Smokey. I don't believe we know the circumstances of her originally leaving the island (at least I don't recall if we do), and she's the one who made them bring Locke's body. Seemed morbid at the time, but what if it was something she was told to do? Also, since Smokey pulled a Jacob and brought people to the Island (by having Christian get Locke to do it), Smokey has been kinda winning a lot. And Eloise was very influencial in that regard. Maybe she was the evil one in her relationship with Widmore.

Random Korean culture thing: there are two different ways of speaking to someone -- the respectful way (to authority figures, older people, people you're not well acquainted with) and the informal way (younger people, subordinates).

Throughout the entire series, Jin has always spoken to Sun in an informal way, whereas she speaks to him with the respectful tone. This is rather old fashioned, as married couples today often speak to each other informally. However, since in the alterna-world they are not married (in fact, they are not even officially a couple), it is extremely disrespectful for a 'bodyguard' to speak to the boss' daughter in an informal tone.

Most of the reviews I've read about this episode keep talking about how alt-Jin and alt-Sun don't speak English. I'm not so sure that is true, and if I'm right it ties in to Alan's theory of the LA X timeline being a sort of future for the characters on the island now. And these reason I think this is because Sun lost her English speaking abilities in this episode. In the season premiere we, and several on screen characters, thought that Sun was understanding the English at the airport. But in The Package I got the impression that both Sun and Jin understand English and that Jin can speak it, but neither of them is letting on that they can for whatever reason. To me Sun seems to have a look that she knows what is going on when English is being spoken, but that she geniuenly can't speak it back. Where as Jin I think can, and that is why he told Keamy "thank you" after Keamy told him the real reason Jin was in LA. I don't know, admittedly my theory has some holes and Darlton will probably shoot it down on the next podcast, but did anyone else feel that way? Is anyone else unsure if the Kwon's don't understand English in the X timeline?

When Widmore hands Jin the camera he makes a comment to the effect that if Smokey leaves the island, then Sun, Ji Yeon, and Penny would cease to exist. I interpretted that as meaning the existence of certain people are tied directly to the island; others not. Widmore's motivations then are personal to protect Penny and not directly aligned with Smokey or Jacob, just using his knowledge of the rules and his fortune to protect Penny. Made me think Mr Paik has some tie to the island similar to Widmore that places Sun in a similarly precarious spot as Penny. I got a bad feeling about Sun's fate with the loss of English and the shot to her abdomen. I always like her - she seems capable and confident.

"Sun told her father that she was wanted to shop in LA, and he sent Jin along to be her "bodyguard"... The whole trip was punishment for Sun for going behind Daddy's back."

All of which makes sense if they were flying direct from Seoul, but they were flying from Sydney. That's the part I can't get my head around. What were Jin and Sun doing together in Sydney? Given that they're not married (and on the d/l to boot), it doesn't make any sense.

I love "Lost," and I dislike the proliferation of promotional bugs, but the idea that this show is so rare and wonderful that it should enjoy special immunity from the realities of the 21st century television marketplace is absurd.

That "V" bug may have been up the entire time, but it was relatively small (really, look at that picture again) and it wasn't jumping around. I've seen far worse. At least Anna wasn't walking into the picture and flicking her lizard tongue at me.

Besides, I was watching "Lost" on DISH Network, which "center cuts" all 16:9 programming to 4:3. Even if that "V" hadn't been there, I couldn't have read Sun's note. And Jack's dialogue was sufficient to imply what she'd written.

I remember Locke falling down the well at the Orchid then it disapeared, Sawyer then frantically tried to help his friend and was upset when he couldn't.In ' The Substitute ' Sawyer doesn't seem the least bit intrigued when he sees 'Locke' for the first time since the above moment.

Question is who told Sawyer that Locke was dead and when as I cannot recall??

I'm surprised I haven't seen people bring up that as of Ab Aeterno, Jacob explained his role as being the same as Desmond's. Both are wardens on an island containing a force. 2001-2004 Desmond is in the Swan venting the electromagnetic build up every 108 minutes, at-least-since-1867 to 2007 Jacob is on the island making sure the Smoke Monster doesn't get out. The cork/thumb in the dike analogy applies to both.

I'm betting Jacob made the Smoke Monster. He's probably an extreme result of what happens when a candidate rebels against Jacob, and since Jacob is a manipulative SOB who brought him to the island, he refuses to let him leave. Kind of analogous to Lucifer, fallen angel = Satan.

BTW, now that we've seen Widmore has returned with a plan involving the electromagnetic pockets on the island it brings home another wasted opportunity Ab Aeterno was. Widmore bought the "Black Rock Ledger" - the journal of the 1st mate of the Black Rock. Ab Aeterno could have been a chance to show us the 1st mate and what he discovered on the island and wrote in the ledger, which we could then infer Widmore eventually learned and is now in season 6 trying to do on the island. Oh well.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that it's really a credit to Terry O'Quinn that he's played two characters on the same series that are visibly both Locke, yet he's differentiated the performance enough that people are wishing the "old Locke" was back.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that it's really a credit to Terry O'Quinn that he's played two characters on the same series that are visibly both Locke, yet he's differentiated the performance enough that people are wishing the "old Locke" was back."

paul..sheesh.. your Locke/dual kudo was mentioned upthread..dudeas well..near every week, it's mentionedRead all the comments..*said with respect*We(and You) all have the Love for Locke..be he Locke or not

As for my opinion..V-promo aside..I'm confused..

such as ..I'm Lost

what I WILL offer is that = Sayid is playing us..and MIB.. something about how he viewed Desmond..there was Life in his eyes

"So part of the "cork" properties of the island seems to prevent Smokey from using his powers to get off it, but doesn't keep him from hopping on an outrigger to row over to Alcatraz. Hmmm... Seems an odd loophole"

I think it's reasonable that Locke either can't cross water in his Smokey form, and he certainly can't get into a boat as Smokey. Obviously in his Locke form he has some ability to move about, since he's planning to leave in the plane.

"Sun told her father that she was wanted to shop in LA, and he sent Jin along to be her "bodyguard" knowing the two were romantically involved. The 25k to be delivered was for Keamy to kill Jin and then screw Sun over by taking her $ out of her account. The whole trip was punishment for Sun for going behind Daddy's back."

But Daddy closed Sun's account, so he obviously didn't expect her to pay for it. I can't believe he wanted her to die or fall into Keamy's crews clutches, no matter how angry he was about the relationship.

"Craphole" Island is a cork which keeps Smokey locked up. The beginning of the alt-reality showed the island at the bottom of the ocean...isn't that a pretty strong hint that in that reality the cork has been popped?

It seems pretty likely that the series will end with a candidate being chosen as the next Jacob. That won't work with the island underwater and all the candidates in LA, as they are in the alt-reality.

They more I think about Widmore's "everyone we know and love will cease to be" comment, the more I feel it strengthens my flash-sideways theory. This isn't their epilogue, and it isn't really a consequence of the Incident. It's what happens when Smokey wins and escapes the Island. It's the new reality that the Losties have to fight and overturn. Something bad is coming (soon, hopefully) in both timelines. They have to give a reason, other than just attachment to the original timeline, to want the alternate world wiped out. Likewise, they have to give us an inciting action to cause the alternate reality. I think both should be coming relatively soon.

Hey, have a good time on break, Alan. That you get as much up as you do is amazing, so you deserve it, man.

And thanks for getting the podcast in before you left. I listened to your Lost discussion, but for the rest you and Iceberg are going with me on a drive to Cleveland tomorrow.

It seemed to me that we got a lot more truth than we could accept in last night's episode. It reminds me of Michael Emerson's quote while on Kimmel: “What if you saw what the show meant but couldn't recognize it?”

I know you think that the writers occasionally underestimate us, and sometimes they do, but I also think we may be underestimating them just a tad, too.

Emerson said that about 2 months ago, which should have been close to the time they filmed this, and certainly after he had read the script. And I think Emerson's was talking about how hard it is to believe anything we see on Lost after six years of double-switches, so perhaps we will be slow to realize it when they start giving us unvarnished answers. So, for example, I've seen a lot of people who think that maybe we can't take Ben's redemption seriously, but I just think it's too late for massive flip-flops like that anymore. Stuff is now for real.

I think the funny lines from Sawyer, Miles and Ben last night all pointed this idea up, rather than being them trying to joke about the silliness of the story sometimes. I think they were very straight with us last night, and I think they kept pointing it out, as people being truthful kept being met with comic disbelief.

So we got Ben getting ragged even though he was being totally truthful, which I took as meaning that we should start accepting what we are hearing as true, but that maybe we aren't doing so because we are so preconditioned to look for the fake-out.

And Sawyer's: "That would be ridiculous" to think that Smocke would be on the island if he could travel off it as smoke wasn't about the arbitrary rules to which Smocke must dance, but a message to us to start putting two and two together sometime, even if sometimes we mess up and get five. Smocke needs a boat because he can't fly over water. Why else would he need it?

I think your epilogue theory is correct, Alan, but I'm betting the epilogue begins in three weeks, because this Island story seems to be ending just as the Sideways story is amping up. Episode 13 is supposed to be the beginning of what Darlton has called the final chapter, and it looks to me that Smocke's getting off this Island and creating the Sideways world. Then it will be up to our Sideways Losties to pick up the ball and run with it.

Or it's an epilogue-epilogue, and the show will end in Sideways World. Man, anything is possible on this show, which is half the fun, but a pure epilogue is tough to figure. Not sure I see this Island War taking 8 more episodes to come to a head. Not after last night moved things so far forward.

This is where I lean on things today. Ask me tomorrow. I may change my mind.

Did anyone else notice that Keamy again got shot without dying right away? I have a feeling he'll show up again briefly.

I don't think the sideways=ending idea lines up right now. Jin and Sun are in worse shape now, and Kate has been arrested.

The ALT as the world with Smokey loose is intriguing, especially since the island is at the bottom of the ocean in the ALT, but the changes seem to subtle to fit with evil incarnate being out and about. Plus, if Smokey is free, why are things going badly for Sayid, his loyal follower?

That's funny--compared to the "clutter" one usually sees, this was nothing! I barely noticed it. However, it does drive me nuts when they go out of their way to draw attention to it--cartoons falling from the top of the screen and so-forth. And they definitely pay even less attention to what it's doing during syndicated reruns--I can remember a couple of times watching Alias and other shows on TNT that they put a huge ad over subtitles!! wtfwtfwtf

Alan, I think you may be selectively interpreting these alt-stories to fit your "epilogue in advance" theory. After all, this episode hardly seems like a "happy ending" for Sun and Jin. They are still under the thumb of Sun's father, and she ends up getting shot in the stomach at the end.

I love Letterman and Colbert mocking the V countdown clock, but unfortunately, that is EXACTLY what the ABC marketing weenies want.

To TV executive weasels, there is no such thing as bad publicity. To them, the countdown clock was a victory because so many people are talking about it. They don't care that 99% of that talk is anger or mockery, all they care about is that people are talking about V.

Well played, TV weasels. Now you can take your victory and go back to feasting on human flesh, or whatever the hell it is you do between trying to come up with more ideas to infuriate your viewers.